Finding Nick
by LokiTheHusky
Summary: Nick gets in a coma and Judy doesn't believe everyone's reasoning for it.
1. Chapter 1

Nick just wanted to get to his secret little hideout and relax. It had been a rough day for him as an officer, and he was just about done dealing with mammals for the day. He slowly pulled up to the old abandoned observatory that was tucked away a comfortable distance from Zootopia. It looked run down, almost something that should be condemned. He snuck through a hole in the wall and sat down on the old familiar couch he had brought up there just for this purpose. He laid back, smiling a bit as he let his surroundings set in. This room had a certain tranquility to Nick; a comfortable, homey feeling that almost reminded him of his mother.

He sighed softly as he stared at the ceiling, relaxing now as he started to think about things. He clung to a pillow on the couch, ripping at it in his bottled up frustration and anger he refused to show. He couldn't show it, not to anyone. That went against his motto, so he believed. Nick was slowly brought to tears, crushing the pillow in his hands before rolling over onto his side. His ears were pinned back more than usual as he took a look out the big window to his left. The window revealed the city in all of its glory; lights and colors were all shining in brilliance. The view was something he also enjoyed about coming up here. He just felt at home here.

He quietly sobbed to himself, remaining somewhat mentally calm as he recalled frustrating situations, people and just anything too emotionally stirring. He thought about that damn bunny that he had been forcefully paired with. It wasn't horrible; she was cute. He could never tell her that specifically because she would flip a shit at him but he would still think it. Emotions kept fogging up his mind; thoughts of Judy and things that he had to deal with that day like someone who just wouldn't leave him alone about his tail. It was his tail, after all, none of their business. He had gotten better since joining the ZPD with his distasteful version of himself, but he still had lingering issues with some people occasionally at shops and such. It all lingered with him because he just never got to tell anyone.

The wind picked up outside causing leaves and debris to fly around outside for a few moments. As Nick watched the lights of the city, he was suddenly made aware that he was starting to have a little trouble breathing. He coughed a little to clear his throat, taking a deep breath before sitting up. Expecting his throat to be clear now he went back to normal breathing but was immediately cut short as he was unable to breathe. He wheezed a little bit, clutching his neck and desperately trying to get air into his body. Nick pounded on his chest, starting to panic as the room swung around him. He couldn't place his feet, stumbling back into one of the walls and holding himself against it. He forced air up through his throat and broke the "seal" on his throat, coughing hard and breathing harder.

The room stopped swinging and spinning as he slowly pushed himself back up and off the wall. He was in a panic now, worried about being able to breathe for much longer. What if he suddenly just collapsed onto the floor? What would he do? Nobody else ever comes up here. He rushed out to his car, jumping in and spinning it around. He cranked up the AC fan speed to max, zooming down the dirt back road. He didn't want to die. That was a silly thing to think, he thought, so he just pushed that aside. He could handle it; he'd be okay. He would just call up Judy and ask her if she could meet him at the coffee shop up the road a few miles. He dialed for Judy. Shit, voicemail. He left a quick, somewhat frantic voicemail before shutting his phone off and putting it in his pocket.

Nick's main goal now was to get to one of the 24/7 clinics that they had in town. They knew what they were doing. The nearest one was ages away, but he could handle it; there was nobody on the road right now. Wait, nobody was on the streets. He could go a little faster, right? No, that's stupid. Nick pushed the pedal down further, his speed increasing. This was an emergency, why not go fast. Lights seemed to smudge and blur as he drove past now seemingly unnaturally. This wasn't normal anymore and it was getting a bit concerning for Nick.

He felt a sharp pain down his back and in his neck, letting out a stifled yell as his grip grew tighter on the wheel. He swerved a bit, narrowly missing some parked cars. Maybe he should stop. He pressed on knowing the clinic wasn't too far away. It couldn't be. He had been driving for 10 minutes now. A painful headache built up in Nick's head as he drove, forcing him to let out a soft groan. This was getting distracting, but that's okay. The clinic was just up ahead. Or was that the bakery? Wait, no, the police headquarters. Everything ahead of him seemed to zoom out far like some awkward camera shot. Lights, as he passed by, were just streaks in the tunnel of his vision. He couldn't make out shapes on the road anymore; everything just looked really fuzzy.

Everything seemed to slow down as he suddenly jerked the wheel to the left. His vehicle swerved into the oncoming lane, tires squealing somewhere. Couldn't have been him. He saw some bright lights up ahead. They looked cool. He liked this roller coaster. It was a lot of fun. He floored the pedal wanting to go faster, hearing a horn blare in response before the light got so blinding he couldn't see. He was blasted in the face with something and it hurt. A lot. Then everything went black.

In a few moments, Nick found himself pinned up in 7 places inside of a crumpled piece of metal. A liquid was dripping on his face from somewhere and he couldn't see. He hurt everywhere. He could barely breathe again but this time, it wasn't from his throat. Nick's phone rang in his pocket, vibrating. He couldn't reach it. He couldn't even if he wanted to. It hit him suddenly that he was trapped in his utterly destroyed vehicle and was going to bleed to death if he didn't get out of here soon. He couldn't do anything. He was stuck. Nick was doomed to death because of his stupid decision to try and drive to the clinic instead of calling 911 instead. They would've taken care of him and this would have never happened. He knew he was going to die. He teared up a bit, but even that was painful. His phone stopped ringing. His thoughts started to slip as he heard loud blares of noise coming up from behind. The last few tears dropped from his eyes as he realized he would probably never see that bunny again. Why couldn't he of just died on impact. Why.

Everything stopped for Nick.


	2. Chapter 2

Judy was barely awake, messing with her phone. Her sleep had been interrupted by a particular fox's phone call, and that had really gotten on her nerves. By the time she had collected that Nick had even called her, he wasn't picking up the phone anymore either. She sat on her bed, her legs dangling off the side.

She rolled her eyes a bit, smiling a little. Nick usually did stuff like this. Judy went into voicemail and hit play, taking a listen.

"Hey Carrots, uh, since you are obviously not awake right now, I'll just try to explain." Nick seemed a little tense. "I was up at that place I talk about sometimes, an old observatory, and-" He coughed. "And I, heh, couldn't breathe. I'm going to dr-" Another nasty cough can be heard. "I'm driving to the clinic right now so don't get your bunny self all worked up about it! I'll see you tomorrow." The voicemail ended.

Judy shrugged it off. Sure that was a little strange, but she wasn't exactly sure why he would even bother calling her about it if it was that big of a deal. Probably just a little cold or something. It was a bit strange, though. Why wouldn't he answer her call? It had only been 5 minutes after he had called so it would make a lot of sense that he'd be available still. She was letting herself get worked up about it, he said not to. She shook it off and laid back down in bed before her ears alerted her to the sound of a bunch of sirens going past the apartment. So much for laying back down.

She leapt up and sprung to the window, looking outside. An ambulance went by and there was a massive cluster of lights in the distance. There was clearly something going on and it was only more concerning that Nick had called her earlier saying that he felt sick. What if he passed out and crashed into something? Why did he have to be so stupid sometimes? She wanted to slap him in his stupid smug face until she realized that he might be hurt _really_ bad. Or even worse, dead.

She was letting herself get worked up about it. Judy quietly scolded herself, tucking herself back into bed. It couldn't be him. Why would the world do such a cruel thing to her? It's not like they were anything special, they were just friends, but it still was worrying. She couldn't stand to not know.

"I'll wake up tomorrow, get to work and Nick will be right there with Clawhauser to invite me in." She repeated to herself in her mind. Judy started to believe it enough to let her fall back asleep again. She really, really needed the rest now. No more worrying.

The next morning, Judy got up as her bright and chipper morning self. She sprung out of bed, got her uniform on and ran out the door. On her way to work, she came across the street where all of those police cars had been last night. There was a lot of tire marks all over the road, but otherwise, the department had done a really great job cleaning up any mess there was. It couldn't have been Nick.

She arrived at the police department no longer than 10 minutes later, walking into the lobby. Clawhauser seemed a bit bothered, and Nick was most definitely nowhere near. She looked at him concerned.

"Clawhauser, what's wrong buddy?" She asked, silently hoping he didn't mention Nick.

"You haven't heard about last night yet, have you..?" Clawhauser sighed softly. "Nick was involved in a crash on Longway Street." Judy's ears drooped. "He-He's alive, though!" She looked at him.

"Are they sure it was Nick..?" She asked, not entirely sure what he was all upset about anymore.

"If you trust your fellow officers..." Clawhauser looked at the desk, messing with some stuff to distract himself. Judy wasn't sure why he seemed so down. He was alive, right?

"You wouldn't happen to know the room number, would you? At the hospital." Clawhauser told her what he knew which did include the room number. Judy ran out of the lobby, jumping back in her vehicle and driving to the hospital. She wanted to see for herself that Nick was, in fact, okay.

When Judy arrived at the hospital, she was pointed in the direction of his room by the receptionist. She had clearly recognized Judy from TV; who wouldn't. She went around a corner and eventually came up to the room, walking up to the door and putting her hand on the handle. She took a deep breath, trying to prepare herself for whatever she might see through this door. She just wanted to hear him say that he was okay, that she didn't have to worry about it. Some reassurance. She twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

She was welcomed into the room by the sight of a nurse tending to a fox who happened to be Nick. Just what she had wished to be untrue. She had hoped and hoped that she wouldn't come face to face with Nick lying in a hospital bed. He didn't even look like he was doing that great. He was bandaged all over and had all kinds of things hooked up to his body that Judy didn't even recognize. She looked up at the Nurse who eventually got around to telling Judy that Nick had been out since they took him in. Her ears were just about as perky as an average person in the morning. She stood beside his bed, looking at him and tearing up a bit. Judy never wanted to have to see Nick like this.

Judy took a moment and stared at him, tears dripping down her cheeks. He looked lifeless on the bed and she couldn't even pull anything positive from this. She had a feeling in her gut that he wouldn't recover from this. That he would just die here in the hospital and never say anything to her or anybody he's ever come into contact with ever again. She'd never hear another one of his witty comments about being a bunny or be able to turn his little hustles, as he liked to call them, back around on him. She'd never see him smile again; not face to face. All she would see anymore would be a body lying in a hospital bed and she didn't even know exactly why. He had said he felt sick and couldn't breathe, but he seemed to be breathing fine now. It didn't make any sense and it was driving her crazy. Why didn't he just pull over and call the emergency number?

She walked out of the room in tears, wiping her face with her sleeve. Maybe Nick was just sick. He probably was. With what? How? How did he even get sick? She had seen him earlier at a coffee shop earlier. They had a nice little chat over some coffee and he blew some sugar in her face. That was kinda rude. She would miss him a lot, though. He was just so charming to her. He was really charming. How did he get sick? He didn't seem sick. Not that sick, at least. Not sick enough to crash a car into something fast enough to do _that_ to his body.

As she walked out the lobby doors of the hospital and hopped back into her car, she developed this great anger towards whatever caused this. She really had never hated someone or something so much besides what had done that to her fox. Her fox. Why did that have to happen to her fox? Someone must have done this. She angrily turned her car on and drove back to the police station.

She mentally apologizes in advance for anyone who happened to give her too much trouble today.


End file.
